Influence of the Electron Seed Properties on the Discharge Characteristics of a Pseudospark (Preprint)
Abstract
An investigation is put forth concerning the extent to which the pseudospark discharge characteristics are controlled by the mean injection velocity of the seed electrons when the bulk of the initial plasma generation occurs independently of the influence of the initial penetrating electric field from the anode-cathode voltage difference. The study is performed using the two-dimensional kinetic plasma simulation code OOPIC Pro. The discharge is seeded by injecting a current pulse for a period of one nanosecond along the axis from the hollow cavity back wall over a range of mean speeds corresponding to 100 to 900 V accelerations. It is shown that the mean seed injection energy strongly influences the rate of growth of the virtual anode with the neutral gas pressure and the magnitude of the peak electron current to the anode generated in the breakdown phase.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 04, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA483022
Entities
People
- J. L. Cambier
- P. Messmer
- Peter Stoltz
- S. O. Cetiner